Nietzsches Thoughts on Slavery and Noble Morality - Assignment Example

In this week’s reading, I was really struck by Nietzsche’s thought on the slave and noble morality.  As time went on, slavery morality became good.  As the idea swept across Europe, slavery became immoral.  Today the mention of slavery invokes the idea of ultimate evil.  Not only did slaveowners have a sense of guilt, but descendants of slave owners still feel guilty to this day. An example of slave morality would be in Roots.  Kunta Kinte was as true to his Islamic and tribe beliefs as he could be under a master.  His struggle to remain faithful was more ethical than his master’s efforts to keep him a slave.

  Kunta Kinte, or Toby as his masters called him, kept his age with rocks by counting the moon cycles.  He gave his daughter an African name, Kizzy.  While his masters were trying to break him, Kunta was struggling for his independence in little ways.  Rebelling against his evil masters made him better than the nobility.   On the other hand, the neo-Nazis or white supremacists, do not have dignity or morality.  They are hated by everyone, but their own kind.  This is the slave and noble morality that Nietzsche wrote about.  Depending on the view, either group could be the slave or noble group. Nietzsche did not express this directly, but I also got the impression of a grouping.

  Nobles and slaves were grouped under labels of good or bad. Slaves thought nobles were bad, and vice versa nobles thought slaves were bad.  It reminds me of the gangs, CEOs, neo-Nazis, and other groups of today.  Each group thinks they are good and everyone else is bad.